This is the blog for photos and reflections of my visits to other places, beginning in 2013. Previous blogs are linked on the main pages of my photo collections on flickr.

HAPPY TRAILS!

Thursday, July 11, 2013

1 DAY IN EDINBURGH

You could spend weeks in Edinburgh - months! - and not see it all, so prioritizing for our 1 full day to explore was a challenge. I think we nailed it. We left Ruth (peeking out the window) and Norman's lovely house with Val.

She graciously drove us into town with a stop on Morningside Terrace where the family lived in 1978 when I lived with them.

1st stop was Edinburgh Castle. Important tip: buy your tickets online before you go - the ticket line can cost an hour or more otherwise. We enjoyed seeing the Scottish Honors - (crown jewels and the Stone of Scone, no photos allowed), the gorgeous views (and pet cemetery) from the castle, and the beautiful St. Margaret's Chapel, dating to the 12th century, the oldest part of the castle.

For lunch we chose the Outsider on George IV Bridge, recommended by a friend of Isaac's. Perfection!

Walking to our next stop we past the coffee house where RK Rowling wrote the 1st Harry Potter book.

We enjoyed a walk around Grassmarket; the pub closest to the main square where locals viewed public hangings in previous centuries is called "The Last Drop".

...to the Holyrood Palace where the Royals live when they're in Edinburgh.

The Holyrood Park is lovely; we hiked around the crags, then soaked our feet in the beautiful wading pool.

Proof I was there. Also proof bunnies were there.

Beautiful views! Firth of Forth in the distance.

Isaac shimmied up the walls of this lane. He suggested that I mention the walls were closing in and he held them apart so Mike and I could make an escape. :-)

Couldn't resist a photo of this sign with an 'L' and a 'T' missing.

We chose Henderson's vegetarian restaurant, celebrating its 50th year, for dinner and dessert, then followed it up with a stop at Queen's Arms pub and a stroll around Princes Street Gardens before heading back to our hosts in Linlithgow on a train.

About Me

I've been a teacher for more than 34 years, recently retired from directing Structured Learning Centers for kids with autism and multiple disabilities in The Dalles, Oregon. I did my undergraduate work at Lewis & Clark College and my SpEd Masters at Portland State University. Gaining conversational ease in Spanish is an important professional and personal goal for me and I find attending Spanish schools in Latin America and volunteering with local organizations both productive and addictive. I'm hoping to help others with their goals along the way and have developed the Live and Learn in Latin America program to provide credit for immersion, volunteer, and cultural learning projects.
ALSO...In the course of my immersion studies in Latin America, I fell in love with the people of San Pedro La Laguna, Sololá, Guatemala and am working in cooperation with the Cooperativa Spanish School to match scholarship sponsors with promising students who would otherwise be limited to 6 years of school: BecaProject.org